Review: Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna van Veen

 

Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna van Veen
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025

Paperback. 368 pages.

About Blood on Her Tongue (from the publisher):

"'Gothic horror for the ages…Combining shiver-inducing horror with sharp-fanged social commentary, this more that merits comparison to Dracula and other genre titans.'― Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

'Immersive and disturbing, Blood on Her Tongue etches itself into your mind and leaves behind a permanent mark.' — Marcus Kliewer author of We Used to Live Here

"I'm in your blood, and you are in mine…"

The Netherlands, 1887. Lucy's twin sister Sarah is unwell. She refuses to eat, mumbles nonsensically, and is increasingly obsessed with a centuries-old corpse recently discovered on her husband's grand estate. The doctor has diagnosed her with temporary insanity caused by a fever of the brain. To protect her twin from a terrible fate in a lunatic asylum, Lucy must unravel the mystery surrounding her sister's condition, but it's clear her twin is hiding something. Then again, Lucy is harboring secrets of her own, too.

Then, the worst happens. Sarah's behavior takes a turn for the strange. She becomes angry… and hungry.

Lucy soon comes to suspect that something is trying to possess her beloved sister. Or is it madness? As Sarah changes before her very eyes, Lucy must reckon with the dark, monstrous truth, or risk losing her forever."

Wow. What in the gothic, bloody insanity was this (I mean this in a positive way!)? Blood on Her Tongue is a unique, suspenseful, and shocking gothic horror that kept me hooked from start to finish. This was delightfully weird and gory and shocking in all the best ways.

Johanna van Veen does not hold back with her writing. If you have a sensitive stomach to violence and rather gory things being described in some detail, take caution when diving into this one. This book is visceral, raw, and will absolutely go places--and describe them in detail--that you might not expect or might even have been afraid to explore.

I really enjoyed Blood on Her Tongue. It seemed like it just kept taking turns that I sometimes anticipated yet never fully predicted so I was always on the edge of my seat. This story felt familiar yet also so incredibly unique--it really makes you think it's going to be one thing, but then it's not quite that.

Blood on Her Tongue  begins in 1887 with Lucy traveling to see her twin sister, Sarah, who has been ill and is steadily getting worse.  Sarah has become obsessed with the corpse of a woman found in a nearby bog, and as a result of her fixation, she is at risk of being declared insane and sent to an asylum. Lucy is adamant about preventing this from happening since she knows what happens to women sent to asylums, and especially given what happened to their aunt who institutionalized when they were younger.

When Lucy arrives at her sister's side, things are far stranger than she anticipated. weirdest of all is that her sister refuses to eat or drink, and in fact can barely keep any food down, yet she still complains of being utterly ravenous..

i still don't know how I feel about Lucy. she's steadfastly loyal to her sister, pretty much to the greatest extent possible that you can be loyal, which I think is proven in this story. I can't help but admire this type of devotion to a loved one, but I also think the book clearly highlights some of the faults that this blind, faultless loyalty can have in a way that is both compelling and unsettling. I'll be honest that I didn't always necessarily agree with Lucy's actions, and I actually found myself extremely frustrated with her at multiple points throughout.  She started out likable, but something about her soured for me--and I loved every second of it.

We also meet Sarah's husband, Michael, and their longtime friend--now their family doctor- -and neither of these men are perfect, either. In fact, I'd say just about everyone in this book feels mildly duplicitous in one way or another, which kept me even more engaged in the story than i expected.

This is the type of book that gives you a sense that you're understanding what's happening, yet leaves the tiniest breadcrumbs that hint at something being off. Lucy’s thoughts and observations about something that happens will often feel relatively normal and understandable until there’s one seemingly throwaway line that makes you pause. Those moments always made me wonder, is the author just an odd one and this is their writing style, or is this character not as normal as I thought? And for that answer, I'll leave you to read this book and find out for yourself what it is.

There's just something about this book that is so utterly captivating and impossible to put down. This is a perfect example of a story with characters that are morally grey (maybe some that lean to the darker grey category, I'd say), confusing, and not always likable, but you can't stop reading about them and wondering what will happen next.

Blood on Her Tongue is absolutely dripping with atmosphere. It feels dark and ominous, like something is lurking on every page.  Something I realized after finishing this book is that the majority of it--almost all of it, in fact--takes place in one main setting, and within just a few specific rooms, yet it never felt stagnant and was executed excellently. This book is rich, layered, and provides so much to think about and unpack. the story is rich, layered, provides so much to think and unpack. I think it's easy for books like this to end up feeling repetitive or slow, but I have to applaud van Veen on avoiding that pitfall. the pacing felt steady and deliberate, and I never found myself feelings like things were dragging along unnecessarily. Wherever you think this book is going, you're probably going to be on the right track in some ways... but you're also probably not at all expecting some of the choices van Veen makes for the turns in this book.

My only real complaint is that a few characters felt like they got a little cartoon-y near the end, but honestly, it fit the story so well that I wasn't even that bothered by it. But that's really the only negative point I have about this book. My frustration with some characters like Lucy I think were very much a part of the reading experience, so it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment. 

Overall, if you're looking for a bloody little horror that will keep you guessing, then you should definitely be adding Blood on Her Tongue to your TBR!

*I received a copy of Blood on Her Tongue in exchange for an honest review. This has no affect on my opinions.*

Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org